Agatha Christie | First Editions

1890 - 1976

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott; however, Christie is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections that she wrote under her own name, most of which revolve around the investigative work of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Parker Pyne, Ariadne Oliver, Harley Quin/Mr Satterthwaite and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Christie also wrote the world's longest-running play, a murder mystery entitled The Mousetrap. In 1971, she was made a Dame for her immense contribution to literature.

Christie was initially unsuccessful in getting her work published, but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Hercule Poirot. This launched her literary career. Today, the Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies worldwide, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books (behind Shakespeare's works and the Bible). Christie remains the world's most-translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103 languages. And Then There Were None is Christie's best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever. Nearly all of Christie's books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics, and more than thirty feature films have been based on her work.

See below our stock of Agatha Christie First Editions, fine bindings, sets, and signed copies.Agatha Christie

London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1953. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.191; [1]. Publisher's orange cloth in dust-wrapper. Foyles ticket to pastedown, slightly sunned to spine. A very good copy of the book in similar wrapper with an unfortunate loss to upper panel. An inexpensive... More about A Pocket Full of Rye. (A Miss Marple story

London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1953. [Detective Fiction]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.191; [1]. Publisher's orange cloth with black titles to spine. With the red and black illustrated dust-jacket, priced at 10/6. Internally clean, lightly toned to edges. Jacket shows well with some closed tears and... More about A Pocket Full of Rye. [A Miss Marple story

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1925. [Mystery novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[xii]; 306; [2], advertisements. Publisher's light blue cloth, titled and decorated in black. A gently used copy with some minor rubbing and wear, bump to upper corner, owner name to flyleaf. The cloth is particularly bright with no... More about The Secret of Chimneys

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1925. [Mystery novel]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[xii]; 306; [2], advertisements. Publisher's light blue cloth, titled and decorated in black. Contents free from spotting, one small mark to top edge, contemporary name and date to flyleaf, cloth very lightly worn. A near fine copy. The... More about The Secret of Chimneys

London: The Crime Club, 1931. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.250; [6]. PUBLISHER'S UNRECORDED VARIANT BINDING of plum cloth blocked in black to spine and upper. Although the typeface used is the same, the brasses are a different size to those used on the regular orange cloth binding. Small, neat... More about The Sittaford Mystery

London: For the Crime Club by Collins, 1945. [Mystery] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.160. Publisher's orange cloth with titles in black to spine, striking pictorial dust-wrapper designed by Stead with a green skull grinning through a glass of cyanide-laced champagne to front panel, titles to spine, reviews of... More about Sparkling Cyanide

London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1948. [Detective Fiction]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. Publisher's orange hardback cloth binding, blocked to spine in black, illustrated dust-wrapper. A lightly worn copy with faint name to pastedown, book a little dusty, jacket is presentable despite a larger chip to... More about Taken at the Flood

London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1948. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. Publisher's orange hardback cloth binding, blocked to spine in black, illustrated dust-wrapper priced at 8/6. A lightly used copy with some edge-spotting, jacket with a couple of short tears and a little wear... More about Taken at the Flood

London: The Crime Club, 1951. First Edition. Octavo. pp.256. Publisher's red cloth, titles in black to spine. Binding shows a touch of bumping to corners and spine ends, a little sunning to spine. Internally clean, with nominal tan to pages. World terror dominates this this secret service thriller from the... More about They Came to Baghdad

London: Collins Crime Club, 1951. [Mystery] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.256; [4], advertisements. Hand-bound in mid-green half calf, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, marbled sides. Area of marginal browning to pp.104-7 else clean within; binding as new. Less of a detective novel, and more of... More about They Came to Baghdad

London: Collins for the Crime Club, 1952. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. Publisher's orange cloth with black titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by Farnhill, priced at 10/6. Spine slightly sunned, with some chips to head and tail. Very good. Miss Marple arrives at her... More about They Do it With Mirrors

London: Published by The Crime Club by Collins, 1944. [Crime thriller]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.160. Publisher's red cloth in dust-wrapper designed by J.Z. Atkinson, correctly priced at 7/6. A fine copy of the book; wrapper with some chips and soiling, rubbed to joints. An inexpensive copy of... More about Towards Zero

Adrian Harrington began trading in 1971, as part of Harrington Brothers in the Chelsea Antiques Market on London's fashionable King's Road. He moved to Kensington Church Street in 1997 and in 2014, after 40+ years of bookselling in the capital, Adrian relocated to the historic Hall's bookshop in Royal Tunbridge Wells, occupying the first floor of this iconic building near The Pantiles area of the town. Hall's remain on the ground floor offering an exceptional range of quality used books and the basement houses a print gallery, providing maps, engravings, posters, photographs and inscribed material. Three generations of Adrian's family are now involved in the running of the business.

Adrian Harrington Rare Books deal in a wide selection of literature, modern first editions, leather bound library sets, children's and illustrated books and fine and rare antiquarian and old books in all fields. We also offer a full and expert bookbinding and restoration service.